Clearer Vision
by Hypnotoad76
Summary: Annie has to wear her glasses for a day. Jeff thinks they make her look hot.


Annie groaned in anger as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror in the women's room. She really felt like a world class idiot right about now.

Her crisis started a few minutes ago, when one of her eyes started burning. Figuring she got some dust or something under one of her contacts she went to the bathroom and took them out to inspect her eyes and the lenses. But then as she was cleaning them she slipped on some water and knocked her lenses into the sink, where despite her efforts they managed to get flushed down the drain.

_Now what_, Annie miserably thought. Luckily for her it wasn't as if she had to worry about being blind for the rest of the day. She had her old glasses in her backpack in case an emergency occurred. But she really didn't want to wear her glasses. She knew she was being a bit vain, but she hated how she looked in them, to the point where she knew she wanted to get Lasik once she could afford it. Once she got out of rehab and got contacts she said goodbye to her glasses, along with her braces and untamed frizzy mane.

She wasn't even sure if anyone at Greendale knew she wore glasses. She'd never put them on while she was at school. And she never wore them outside of school, even when she was at home. Troy was the only one who would know she wore them beforehand. But to everyone else, she might as well have had 20/20 vision

She sighed in sadness as she took them out of her backpack and put them on. As she looked in the mirror she decided it wasn't quite as bad as it could be. At least she didn't have braces and horribly unkempt hair like in high school. But still, she was dreading walking around and people seeing her with them on. She kept telling herself she wasn't same girl she was in high school, but it was much harder to do when she was now a lot closer to how she looked back them.

_All right, you might as well get this over with_, she thought. She took a deep breath before pushing the door open and making her way out of the bathroom.

As she made her way down the hallway she expected people to say something to her. But no one paid the slightest bit of attention to her. It was like no one seemed to notice anything was different about her.

While it was nice, she knew the fact that she was wearing glasses wouldn't be ignored once she got to the study room. Sure enough, as soon as she sat down at her seat Pierce said, "Nerd alert."

"Pierce!" Shirley yelled. "Why are you making fun of her? You wear glasses."

"Come on, I was just having fun," he responded with.

"You do know that's hypocritical of you," Britta said. "And as someone who also wears glasses, I take offence."

"But you only wear glasses to make yourself seem smarter, while with Annie she wears them because she generally needs them to see," Abed said, causing Britta to give him a death glare.

"And you think I'm a hipster," Jeff said sarcastically. He smirked as Britta turned her death stare onto him.

"Guys, I had an accident with my contacts and have to wear my glasses for today. Can we just forget it and study?" Annie asked.

They all murmured in agreement as they opened their books and dived into studying for their latest test. As they looked over their notes Annie kept feeling like she was being watched. She glanced up and saw that Jeff was covertly looking at her as he kept his head down (she knew him well enough to have figured out when he was looking at something while paying attention to something else.) She ducked her head down, feeling very self-consciousness. He probably thought she was even more geeky then normal now.

Once the session was finally over Annie quickly packed up her stuff and left the room quickly. 'Um guys. Did Annie seem upset to anyone else?" Troy asked.

"She's self-conscious at having to wear her glasses again," Abed told everyone. "Whenever she's home she never wears them. Though she keeps her contacts by the bathroom sink, so she's not acting like she has perfect vision."

"Least I didn't have to wear glasses until 1992," Pierce said somberly. "I don't know what I would have done if I had to wear them at her age. That would have really lessened my scoring record, if you know what I mean."

"We always know what you mean," Shirley said in disgust.

"Maybe I should talk to her," Britta said. "As a therapist and a young woman who also wears glasses, I can be a valuable resource."

"But don't you only wear glasses because-."

"Can it Abed," Britta snapped at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Once her final class ended Annie decided to stop and grab something quick to snack on before heading home. As she entered the cafeteria and bought some M&Ms she saw Jeff sitting by himself at a table. _This is stupid_, she thought. _We're friends and it's not like what's on my face will suddenly change how he feels about me. I should just hold my head up high and go over to him._

Before she could talk herself out of it she walked over and sat across from him. "Hey Jeff."

"Hey." He fiddled on his phone for a moment before looking up at her. "So what prompted this look today," he said as he waved a finger around her face.

"I was cleaning my contacts and accidently washed them down the sink," she said with embarrassment. "I know they make me look dorky, but it was either this or being blind for the day."

"I didn't think they make you look dorky."

"Sure," she said sarcastically.

"I mean it. I like them."

"Let me guess, because they make me look smart," she quipped with an eye roll.

"Annie, can you just stop." He paused in frustration before continuing. "I've known you were smart since we first met. You don't need to wear glasses to prove it. I meant I like how you look in them. They make you look cute. Even kind of hot."

Her eyes widened in shock as she took that in. "Really?"

"Yeah. No one ever told you that before?"

"No. If anyone ever said anything to me about my glasses, it was to make fun of me."

"I can relate." Annie looked at Jeff in surprise as he continued. "I had to get glasses when I was about twelve. I had these Buddy Holly frames I hated at first because kids in school made fun of me, but I learned to make work for me."

She laughed at that image of Jeff in black framed glasses. "So what happened, you eventually started wearing contacts?"

"Yeah. But I kept falling asleep in them and was told I was doing damage to my eyes. So I ended up getting Lasik to prevent further damage."

"That's what I want to do as soon as I can afford it."

"It's definably nice just waking up and being able to see right away. But I meant what I said. I really like how you look in those glasses. I don't know why you hid that you didn't have perfect sight."

She sighed as she decided to open up to Jeff on the matter. "I just hate them because they remind me of how I was in high school. Back them I had glasses, acne, a mouthful of braces, and big frizzy hair. Combine that with being shy and awkward and people weren't exactly lining up to be friends with me."

Jeff gave her a serious look before saying, "That was definitely their loss. Though most people are idiots in high school. Present company excluded of course."

"I turned to pills to be the best back then Jeff. I think that qualifies me as being idiotic in high school. And that's not the point. The point is that even though it's stupid, when I wear my glasses I feel like I'm that fragile little girl again who no one wants to be around."

Jeff laughed, though there was nothing humorous in the sound of it. "All right, first off, if someone doesn't want to be around you just because you wear glasses, then they're not worth it. And second, I already said you look good in those glasses. You have no reason to feel ashamed or self-conscious."

"Oh right, like I've ever seen you interested in any woman who wears glasses," she said sarcastically. "It's not like-."

She was so into her rant that she didn't notice Jeff lean over the table until his lips were pressing against hers. Her eyes widened in shock before she closed them and kissed him right back. She wrapped her arms around him as he threaded his fingers through her hair.

"Hey guys, free make-out show," Leonard yelled out as he pointed at them. Jeff and Annie quickly separated, both dazed by their sudden make-out session. As Annie looked at Jeff she found him to be extremely distorted and out of focus. It took her a moment to realize that it was because her glasses were fogged up. She quickly whipped them off and cleaned them before sliding them back on.

"Is that enough proof that you don't know what you're talking about?"

"I don't know any more Jeff." She sighed in annoyance as he frowned at her. "After everything between us I don't want you to just kiss me to prove something to me."

"All right then, what do you want Annie?"

"I want to know where we stand, and not have you pull some stunt like this just to make me feel better about myself. Because that just makes me feel worse."

"Okay, maybe that wasn't the best timing. I just hate that you keep doubting how beautiful and wonderful you actually are."

"Well can you blame me? I've had two actual boyfriends. One came out right after we had sex, and the other left to become a hacky sack champion. And since I've started college I've only been on three dates, all of which I ended up paying for. And then there's the whole thing between us that's never actually been resolved. So maybe it's a bit hard for me to really think of myself as someone people really want to be with."

She looked at Jeff as he sat there with an unreadable expression on his face. Just as she was an instant from getting up she heard him say, "Are you free tomorrow night?"

"What?"

"I'm asking you if you're free to go out tomorrow night. On a real actual date. Where you pick where we go and I pay and everything."

"Jeff, if this is a pity date then-."

"Annie, I promise this has nothing to do with pity. This is me wanting to stop dancing around you and actually see what's truly there. And going on a date with you is a pretty serious step in figuring it all out. So, do you want to go out with me?"

Annie slowly smiled as she got up and kissed him lightly before saying, "Let me think about it." Her smile widened as she walked away. She already had her decision ready. But after everything she had been through, she figured it was only fair to wait a little while before giving Jeff her answer. Besides, that would give her a little time to pick where they would go out to.


End file.
